Rudder-holding device for ferry-boats



(No Model.

N. ALLEN.

RUDDER HOLDING DEVICE FOR FERRY BOATS. No. 286,367 Patented Oct. 9, 1883.

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a, PETERS. Pmwmm m wmgm no -UNITED STATES PATENT FFICEQ NATHANIEL AL LEN, OF EAST BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

V RUBBER-HOLDING DEVICE FOR FERRY-BOATS.

' SPE IIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 286,367, dated October 9, 1883 Application filed July 16, 1883. (No model.)

which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts. I

My invention has for its object to produce a more convenient holding or locking device than those heretofore in use for the forward rudder of a ferry-boat provided with rudders at either end.

As heretofore commonly practiced, the rudders of ferry-boats have been provided with a socket to receive a belt or pin dropped through a hole in the deck bya deck-hand, the rudder having to be placed by the steersman in exactly central position before it is possible to insert the said bolt, and the operation of looking thus requiring the co-operation of two persons in different parts of the boat. Apivoted locking device has also been devised, intended to be operated from the wheel-house.

The present invention consists in a sliding latch or clamp for the rudder, and means to operate it from the wheel-house, one rudderloclr being operated from each wheehhouse,

and consisting of a plate notched or forked to engage the upper end of the rudder, the said plate being beveled or curved at the sides of its notch, so that when the rudder isturned into central position it will be automatically engaged and held by the said locking device. The locking device for the rudder which is in use at the rear end of the boat is retained by its actuating mechanism raised a sufii cient distance not to interfere with the movements of c the rudder, and when the boat has arrived at p the end of atrip the said locking device is released or dropped, and the rudder, which has to be at the forward end of the boat in the next or return trip is turned to its central position 4 5 and engaged by thelockingdevice, aitervshich 50 requiring an attendant on deck for this purpose.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a ferry-boat provided with a rudder-holding device in accordance with this invention; Fig. 2, a sec- 1 tional detail on line 90 m,- Fig. 3, an end elevation of a portion of a ferry-boat; and Figs. 4 and 5, a side and under side view, respectively, of a portion of a ferry-boat, showing the rudder and its locking mechanism.

The boat A, of any usual construction, is provided with rudders a a at either end, connected by the usual ropes or chains and tackles, b b, with the operating wheels and windlasscs c c in the wheel-houses d d, each at the opposite end of the boat from therudder with which it is connected, When the boat is going in either directionas, for instance, that of the arrow, Fig. 1the rudder, as a, at the forward end of the boat should be kept stationary in the central position, and the boat is steered by 70 the rudder a at the other end of the boat. The forward rudder, as a, is thus held in accordance with this invention by the locking device e, consisting of a sliding plate, notched as shown at 2, Fig. 3, vto engage the upper 7 5 edge of the rudder or arm a", projecting there from, to which the rope b is attached, the said plate dropping by its weight; so as to engage and lock the rudder, as shown in Fig. 3, except when the said plate is positivelyheld above the said rudder. The plate e is beveled or curved at either side of the notch 2, so that when the rudder a is turned from an inclined position toward its central position it will raise the said plate, which will drop and engage the said rudder when the latter arrives at its ecu tral position.

The locking device 6 for therudder a at the rear end of the boat has to be kept raised, so as to permit the rudder a to move in either direction to properly steer the boat, and the locking devices 6 6 may be thus raised at the proper time to unlock the corresponding rudders bythe lock-operating mechanism, shown as a pair of connected levers, m m, (see Fig. 4,) one connected with the said plate or locking device e or c, and the other connected by a cord or chain, a, with a lever, 0, (see Fig. 2,) operated by a treadle or foot-piece, p or p, in the wheel-house, the said foot piece being notched, as shown at 3, to enable it to be retained in its depressed position, holding the locking-plate c or 0 up from the path of the corresponding rudder. hen the boat com- IOO 2 L i eases? pletes its trip in the direction of the arrow, the

steersman releases the treadle 1), thus permitting the locking device 0 at the other end of the boat to drop, and then turns the rudder a toward itscentral position until it is engaged and looked, after which he proceeds to the other wheel-house and depresses the treadle 1), raising the locking device 6 and releasing the rudder a, so that it may operate properly to steer the boat in the return-tri p in the other direction.

I claim- 1. The combination of the rudder of a vessel with the locking device consisting of a sliding notched plate beveled or curved at either side of its notch, whereby the said plate is antoinatically raised by the rudder in coining to its central position, and then drops to engage and lock the said rudder, substantially as described.

2. The rudder and its sliding locking device, notched and beveled, as described, combined with its operating mechanism connected with and operated by tread les in the wheelhouse, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. i

- NATHANIEL ALLEN. Witnesses:

BERNIOE J. N OYES, W. 1-1. Sresron, 

